Explain to me how officer survival is not the most important part of the jpb? If the officer doesn't survive while he is responding or intervening, just what is he supposed to do about "public safety"? Internet commandos always have a better way for police to work but rarely have had the courage to put a badge on and do the work.
I reproduce this anonymous comment to provide context for my response, reprinted below. As with the previous post, no editorial revisions have been made save for the inclusion of hyperlinks.
If "officer survival" was the most important part of the job, police officers would sit in their precinct houses, in sandbagged fighting positions, peering out at the world across the sights of a M249.
As I had feared, my comments were taken inadvisedly. Does that sound like a politician's apology? It's not. I don't care if you like what I say or not, but I will try and clarify.
If a sworn law enforcement officer's HIGHEST PRIORITY is going home at the end of the shift, then he's a time-serving POS who has "a job" and not "THE JOB."
If a sworn law enforcement officer's highest priority is going home at the end of a shift, he'll not dash out into traffic to grab up a little girl whose attention is all on her teddy bear and not on the 18 wheeler bearing down on her.
If a sworn law enforcement officer's highest priority is going home at the end of a shift, when he hears a gunshot from inside a house where a 911 assault call has come from, he will watch the front door and call for backup instead of going to investigate. (Umm, see "Columbine.")
I do not like the analogy of the sheep, the wolves and the sheepdogs. (After all, sheep are for shearing, and I don't like to think that that's how cops look at "mere civilians.") But let's work with it for a minute. Is the sheepdog's highest priority his (or her) survival? No. The sheepdog's highest priority is PROTECTING THE FLOCK.
I see John 15:13 quoted a lot about public servants (cops and firefighters, mostly). My KJV says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Lay down his life.
That means sacrifice. Not the sacrifice of wearing polyester pants, not the sacrifice of juicy off-duty gigs directing traffic and bouncing in bars, not the long hours away from your wife and family, but to LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE to PROTECT THE FLOCK.
You seem to be calling me an internet commando, although if you read my original post, you'll notice that I stress that, while I am a veteran, I served in peacetime in a pretty pogue capacity. I dunno, maybe when I fall asleep, I turn into a mall ninja or something.
While I did serve in peacetime, and while I didn't, in point of fact, go anywhere or do anything, I thought seriously about the possibility that I would be killed while I was wearing the pickle suit. I thought about it long and hard, before I signed up and took the oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.
There are times when "making it home" just ain't in the cards, for sworn officers, for military personnel, hell, even for ordinary joes. There are times when you just have to hold that hill, even if there's a battalion of Japanese infantry coming and you've only got three guys left in your platoon.
That's what happened to the man who became the face of G.I. Joe. He lived, as it happened, but that night his survival was not the most important part of his job. The most important part of his job was holding that line. Guess what? He held the line.
At the same time, I'd like to tie back to the difference between the military and the police. How does the US Army and Marine Corps react when someone doesn't slow down fast enough at a roadblock in Iraq? Is that how we want police here in the "homeland" acting?
Hey, I could be wrong here, but in my mind a good cop is one who thinks protecting the flock is job one, not punching out at the end of the shift. Gotta protect the flock if you want to be a sheepdog. How do shepherds treat sheepdogs who aren't willing to lay down their life to protect the flock?
Oh, and thanks for questioning my courage.
I know some good cops, and I have nothing but admiration for them. Peace.
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